


Skeletons

by chrissy2



Category: My Friend Dahmer (2017)
Genre: 1970s High School Society, Bullying, Dahmer Fan Club, Jocks, Locked In A Closet Together, M/M, Pranks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-30
Updated: 2017-07-30
Packaged: 2018-12-07 19:14:11
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,391
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11630103
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chrissy2/pseuds/chrissy2
Summary: The Dahmer Fan Club pulls a prank that pisses off some jocks and it results in Derf and Dahmer getting their asses kicked, their glasses shattered and trapped in a biology lab closet together.





	Skeletons

**Author's Note:**

> This never happened, I don't own anything and I get no money from this. I'm sure Derf never once had this kind of closeness or would ever dream of having this kind of closeness with Dahmer.

**I**

Derf's vision was blurred, but he could still make out the specs of their crushed glasses through the narrow window of the lab door. The teachers are supposed to check all the closets before they clock out, but everyone knows they don't do it.

Derf sighed in frustration and Dahmer remained silent, like he usually was when out of character. Looks like they were spending the night there.

 

**II**

"Man, why didn't you do something about it?" Derf lowly growled. "You're huge. You could've totally taken them out."

Derf was near-sighted, but Dahmer didn't stand too far. He could just barely make out the six-footer shrugging at the back wall of the closet, standing next to all the jarred fetuses. "Well, we _did_ prank them," the blonde simply said. "And some pranks piss people off. I guess we got what we deserved."

It was strange hearing his normal voice. Dahmer was hardly ever present for classes and when he was, he was taciturn. And when in his Burlman persona, his voice was much higher and nothing but gibberish.

"Yeah, but still. I'm just a little guy. You never fight back. That's why people pick on you."

The last bit was probably uncalled for, but there was no change of tone in Dahmer's response: "Fighting back only makes things worse. Best to just let things be."

Derf leans back onto a shelf. "Not if they're trying to kill you."

"We all die eventually."

"You can't just let someone do that!"

"That's why you don't let them get you. Or get caught. Don't stick around, just run away."

"Why didn't you run, then?"

"Why didn't you?" Dahmer retorted. "Well, there's nothing we can do about it now."

"We shouldn't just let them get away with beating other kids up."

"Like I said, we pranked them, and we got what we deserved. It's just better to not care about anything. People get angry and stressed over stupid stuff because they care too much. Just shut off your emotions and let it go."

Derf had never heard this guy talk this much before. It was like he was totally fine with being trapped in a dark closet full of jars with creepy skeletons over night with some other guy, the closed-in air reeking of formaldehyde. "Man, my dad's gonna kill me."

The brunette slowly started down to the back wall. Trying to look at anything in the dim lighting was giving him a headache. The closer he got, the clearer Dahmer's profile got. He was holding a jar containing a pig fetus in his large hands and observing it, lightly tossing it back and forth like a football.

"Nah," Dahmer said. "It's not like you were out partying or something."

The blonde was probably just trying to lighten things up, but the comment kind of depressed Derf. "Yeah. Like a normal kid. A _cool_ kid."

"If that's what normal is, then normal isn't being all that bright." Dahmer put the pig fetus back and started looking at the jars in the very back. "Wow. I've never seen these before."

It was then Derf noticed something odd among the general shapes in his blurred vision and leaned in closer to Dahmer's profile, his eyes squinting. In despite of Derf invading more and more of his personal bubble, Dahmer didn't move. The blonde just stared back at him.

God, that gaze. It was so - empty. His pupils were large and nearly covered the entirety his irises. If his eyes could get any darker, they would be completely black.

Dahmer had changed a bit since junior high. He was once the little, scrawny kid that jocks picked on. Now he was the muscular six-footer that jocks picked on, with broad shoulders and a manly jawline, full lips. Only on the inside would Derf admit he was somewhat handsome. If he would just open up a little bit, stand up to all the jocks - do something about that _booze breath -_  maybe all the girls would like him.

He _was_ really funny, though. And girls liked funny, but he was going to have to be more than that to keep some chick around.

There's an icey sensation, and Derf steps back, realizing the awkward situation. "I thought they crushed your glasses too."

"They did. This is my second pair." There's a hint of a boyish smile. "I have a history of getting my glasses broken, so I always pack an extra pair."

"Sounds expensive."

"My dad's salary pays enough. He was a blind kid too, so he gets it."

"Oh, yeah," Derf then realized. "That's right. Our dads are both chemists."

"Yep."

Derf lowered his voice, trying his best to imitate a middle-aged man: _"I always wanted my son to get his ass handed to him by a bunch of jocks and shoved into a closet with jarred fetuses."_

The joke makes both of them laugh, Dahmer's being a bit more quiet, and it's the first to memory that Derf had ever seen the guy smile with his teeth, much less hear him laugh. If it wasn't for Dahmer's strange loner history, that large smile would seem almost warm and sincere.

 

**III**

Thankfully, their school was the type to leave the main lights on all night, so spending the night in a skeletal closet didn't seem so eerie. At least he wasn't alone.

The blonde looked over each jar over and over again. Derf joined him since there was nothing better to do than leave their little cassette players on repeat or doodle in Derf's sketchbook full of D-minuses he got for his _Dahmerisms_. They looked over the shark fetuses, pigs, cows and birds. The most out-of-place fetus was the kangaroo.

While looking over one of the many pig fetuses, Derf reached over for the jar to have a closer look. "Wow."

There was a silence as Derf observed the preserved creature, Dahmer and Derf holding the jar together, one hand for each side. For whatever reason, Derf's eyes wondered to the blonde next to him and he found the other teen close to him again, staring into those near-to-dead eyes. But there was a spark of _something_ in Dahmer's dark eyes, something he couldn't make out.

"Here," Dahmer suddenly says, using his free hand to reach for his second pair of specs and handing them to Derf. "Try them. Maybe you can get a better look."

Something about the gesture threw Derf off. He wasn't scared or shocked, but a little _bashful._ Something about this seemed very - intimate. "Oh. Thanks."

"Sure."

 

**IV**

"I wonder what's playing tonight," Derf wondered.

"Hm?"

"On the TV."

"Oh," Dahmer shrugged. "I don't know. I don't really watch TV."

"What do you do for fun, then?"

Another shrug: "Just go outside and walk around."

"By yourself?"

"My brother used to join me, but not anymore. He's more of the TV-watcher."

 

**V**

When they laughed, Derf felt the lightening strike of pain in his ribs and caved in, groaning and hunching over. " _Argh!"_

"What's wrong?" he heard Dahmer ask.

"God, they really hit me hard there." Derf reached for the hem of his sweater and lifted it up until he saw patches of blue along the ribs. " _Jesus!"_

 

**VI**

_You know, you should probably stop drawing me if it's making you fail art class._

_Nah, it's not making me fail. Plus I just like pissing Mr. Edwards off. "Not real art", my ass. Picasso's far from realistic and he's a fucking icon. The Egyptians were fucking flat in their paintings and most medieval painters that worked for the Pope I swear had never seen a naked woman in their life._

 

**VII**

_"Gee, Backderf, that wooks awfuwey painful,"_ Dahmer slurred. _"At weast you stayed away fwom dem awful jazz cigarettes and fancy genitals."_

Derf lightly tapped over the blue with his finger tips. "You think they broke something?"

"Oh, now you're just being dramatic."

When Derf looked back at the six-footer, he seemed to be further away than he was before, that unreadable _something_ in his dark eyes again. You'd think a decent person would check on a bruised friend, but whatever.

 

**VIII**

"I heard Michelangelo was into guys," Dahmer responded.

"Oh, yeah? Where'd you hear that?"

"Around. But it wouldn't surprise me none. His women were basically guys with boobs. I wouldn't be surprised if a _lot_ of historical figures were into the same-sex."

"Eh, I don't know," Derf shook his head. "It doesn't really make sense to me."

"What? Being gay?"

"Yeah."

"Why?"

"I mean, what's the purpose of it? You can't make babies from it."

"That may just be exactly it."

"Not making babies?"

"Keeping any kind of species from overpopulating."

"Maybe. But how can you be attracted to other guys? Guys are gross."

"You've never even had a little crush?"

"No."

"How do you know?"

"I just can't see it happening. It's like trying to put a square into a circle."

"Seems a little close-minded."

"I guess. When there's actual proof of homosexuality throughout history, maybe I'll open up to it. It just seems like something kids are using nowadays to piss off their conservative families."

"Alexander the Great, Achilles, Hercules, Zeus, Apollo."

"What?"

"All these figures were said to be gay."

"Bullshit. All but one of those are mythological!"

"It's in all Greek mythology books if you care to actually sit down and read through them. And all mythology is based on something in life. It seems it was more common than we thought. There's also David and Jonathan and Ruth from the Bible."

"David was married."

"The king offered his daughter to him. What was he supposed to do, say no?"

 

**IX**

_So what do you plan to do after graduation?_

_Don't know. But dad has already planned for me to go to Ohio State._

_Wow._

_One thing's for sure: I'd like to be somewhere warmer. Maybe Florida._

_Florida sucks, dude._

_I've always wanted to go there. I'm just tired of the cold._

 

**X**

"If he was in love with Jonathan, why couldn't he just say so?"

"Maybe it would've killed him to say he was. Maybe gays are scared to come out because nobody understands them. They see it as an abomination."

"Well, wouldn't I know more gays then? Nobody I know is like that."

"That you know of."

 

**XI**

"Man, that just creeps me out," Derf said as he lowered himself to the tiled floor, using his backpack as a pillow.

"What?"

"The skeleton."

Dahmer just looked at the skeleton model, then back at Derf on the floor, and he decided to handle the situation by slowly turning the skeleton around and Derf could only laugh.

 

**XII**

When Derf began to stir back into consciousness, he didn't know what time it was. He didn't know if it was morning yet.

But before he opened his eyes, he felt something was different. Perhaps it was the silence.

Curiosity consuming him, he finally lifted his lids to the blurred shapes in the dim lighting.

 

**XIII**

_Do you really think being gay is just being sick in the head? That it's just a phase, a fantasy?_

_I'm not saying that. I'm just saying it doesn't make sense to me. In nature._

_Love itself is unnecessary, and yet we have it anyway. We date people and marry people for love, because we love them. Or so we say. If sex is just for reproduction, why don't just have lust and only lust? Have the desire to fuck and let the baby-making follow its course? Do we not have the right to simply love? What's wrong with that?_

 

**XIV**

There's a strange warmth enveloping Derf upon awakening. He lifts a hand to reach around himself to feel the texture of a thick coat: It was Dahmer's jacket.

That's when the brunette became alert, his eyes darting around the closet. He found the six-footer slouched over in the corner by his feet, his knees up and his forearm to the wall as a cushion for his head.

 

**XV**

"You know, you should talk more," Derf said.

The blonde turns to him with a couple of raised eyebrows, "Talk more?"

"Yeah, socialize a bit more. We all know you're a bit of a loner." Derf wanted to bring up the fact that everyone knew he was an alcoholic, but then decided not to. "You're really smart, but it's like you underestimate yourself. You haven't been showing up to classes much anymore."

Derf also thought that if Dahmer did not like attending class so much, why did he always seem to linger on school grounds like some kind of ghost attached to it against his will? If the reason was because of bullies, why hang around the general area _for_ bullies?

"Is there something going on?" Derf decided to push into it a little further. "You know, at home? Is everything okay?"

As Derf dug deeper and deeper into his personal life, Dahmer's eyes began to roam and his hands became restless, fidgeting with the jar of the fetus they were looking at earlier. After a bit of fidgeting, Derf was beginning to worry that he may drop the jar and reached for it gently. Their fingertips lightly touched and that was when Dahmer slightly gasped and jumped, finally looking back up at the brunette with the eyes a scared child that was afraid he was going to get in trouble.

"Sorry," Derf immediately apologized. "Just worried you were going to drop it. I lost you there for a second."

Dahmer released his grip on the glass and Derf was able to take the fetus away and place it back on the shelf. The blonde's gaze finally sticks, and his eyes are suddenly a lot less darker than before, full of uncertainty. He looked so vulnerable then. "Thanks, man," Dahmer finally says. "That's really nice of you. But I'll be fine."

"Look, man: You don't have to tell me what's going on in your life. But I really think you should tell _someone._ Maybe see the counselor or something."

"Sure. One day, I might."

"Dahmer, I insist. Just talking about your problems helps a lot."

"Thanks for worrying. But I'll be fine." There's another boyish smile. A mask. "Alright? If I need to talk, I'll talk."

 

**XVI**

_I'm just like everybody else._

What a dream.


End file.
